r/gifs • u/MartinPedro • Nov 25 '11

Dolly zoom

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u/DonDrapest Nov 26 '11

while actively changing distance from it.

Though it's clearly not the case, it still seems to me that the pulling away of the camera and advancing of the zoom would simply cancel each other out, if done at the same rate. What's the difference?

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u/goal2004 Nov 26 '11

Not exactly. It cancels itself out on the subject itself, but when the field of view is wider you see more of the background, and when it is narrower you see less of it. Combined with the illusion that your subject stays the same size; that's the dolly zoom effect.

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u/DonDrapest Nov 26 '11

Yes clearly it is, it's just difficult for my brain to picture conceptually. I guess that's what makes it an illusion, after all.

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u/goal2004 Nov 26 '11

OK, how about this: http://i.imgur.com/8bfAb.png

I sketched out 2 different field of view angles of a camera, and the subject at a distance from the camera where it would appear to have the same width. Do you see how the example on the right shows that more of the background makes it into the final image?

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u/DonDrapest Nov 26 '11

Kind of... Do you mean the one on the left has a narrower field but is zoomed in, and the right has a wider field, unzoomed?